068 Wolfsbane Has No Antidote

Willa's POV

I knew Al wanted to stay only because I needed protection. But his lie was getting ridiculous.

"You realize I can see your mate's mark...right?" I frowned, squinting my eyes at him. I would bite him if he say it was a normal tattoo.

"Kirsch gave me this mark by mistake." Al grabbed my wrist as I struggled to stand up. His words froze me and that worked much better than his grip.

"You...you two...do you love him?" I couldn't get my brain to work to process that information.

"I loved Kirsch as a brother, but Rudy claimed me as his mate, so I let Kirsch mark me," Al explained calmly.

"But Kirsch doesn't have your mark..." I blinked, trying to understand.

"Cerberus knew he wasn't ours, so he wouldn't mark him." Al gave me a sad smile.

"So why did you let him mark you when you knew he wasn't your mate?"

"I was driving him crazy. Knowing who your mate is but cannot have them does that." Al sighed, gazing into my eyes, "So I thought at least that would make it easier for him."

"But what about your own mate? One can only have one mate's mark...well, unless Kirsch has a twin, I guess?" Of all the possibilities of Al's mate's mark, I never thought this would be the answer.

Al sighed as he lowered his eyes.

"I lost hope back then." Al started in a soft voice, looking into my eyes as he said, "Cerberus doesn't have a sane mind ever since I shifted. His mood swings give me a constant headache. He doesn't mean to, he just can't control it. So..."

"So?" I asked, feeling my heart ache, listening to his story.

"So, I didn't want to share this life with my mate even if I could find him or her. I never meant to mark anyone." Al smiled at me as he finished in a gentle tone. His smile was sad.

I heard my heart shattered.

I thought he must have an easy life for him to be this warm and bright. His past just might be even darker than mine!

"They will come again." Al's eyes fell on Baldwin's body, "We aren't safe until Kirsch comes back."

"They drugged him!" I remembered what Baldwin told me, "The Treaty, they are punishing Kirsch with wolfsbane. He doesn't know Jason's men are in the pack now."

"I guessed so." Al nodded. His eyebrows furrowed together as sweat dripped off his forehead.

"We have to leave this place once your gunshot wound heal. It would heal quickly." I checked Al's ribs. It was taking some time because the bullet broke a rib. Healing bones takes time.

"I can't shift right now. It would be too obvious and too slow for us to go anywhere." Al put his elbow into the bed but he could barely stand up.

Why did the antidote choose such a crucial time to not work!

Though at least the cure spell was working.

Granny's magic had brought us so much trouble in the past. We had to keep it a secret, but sometimes words still got out, and that attracted ill attention. I wished we never had magic...

Until now.

"I can help you. You don't have to worry about the headache again!" I cupped his face with my hands.

"Curses can't be cured, Willa." Al took my hand and pressed his lips on my fingers.

"It's not a curse! What's a curse?! So Crebreus can't control himself well, but with the spell, we can keep him safe!" I blurt in a haste, "Curses are just problems that people are afraid of because they don't understand the problems."

"The curse is I bring misfortune to everyone around me, silly." Al sighed with a bitter smile.

"I do that, too. You have no idea how much trouble I have brought granny. I would be dead already if it wasn't for her. But that's not a good reason to give up your life. Granny taught me that." I wanted to tell him about my poison, but it wasn't just my secret to tell. Granny was in on this, too.

"At least you don't turn rabid every new moon for a killing spree." Al dodged my eyes.

"Do you?" I looked him in the eye.

"It's only because Kirsch had been fighting me on new moon nights to prevent it. It doesn't mean I'm not dangerous." Al shook his head.

"So why are you leaving all of a sudden when you have been doing this for so long?" I blinked in confusion. I thought it was because I was getting too close when he had a mate. But there was no reason now that I knew he hadn't found his mate yet.

"You just told me to get far away from you because you bring misfortune!" Al curved his lips, but the sweat on his forehead made his smile less soothing for me.

"That was when you have a mate to go to." I shrugged, refusing to admit that I would have done what he was trying to do if I were him.

Al let out a long sigh with a bitter smile, closing his eyes at my unreasonable reasoning.

"How are you feeling now?" I looked down and checked the gunshot wound. It was almost healed.

Al opened his eyes, but he didn't answer. His eyes turned onyx, and his breath thick. He gripped his forehead, panting. 

Al put me down and stumbled for the door, only to crash into the wall, he barely managed to put up his arms when he did that.

"Run, Willa! Run!" Al managed a few words as he put his head against the wall in pain.

"Al! Is your head hurting again?!" I pulled a parchment I made earlier from the bed as I approached him.

Al wheeled on me at the same time and grabbed my wrist before he pulled me into this arm in such a rough way that my face crashed into this chest.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling a little dizzy at the crash as I looked up in Al's arms: "Al, what are you--"

"No Al! Cerberus!"

(Author's Note: Cerberus finally came out to see Willa for the first time! Do you like him? I grow fond of him a lot as I write more)